Los Alamos part of team establishing baseline procedures for emerging field of bioforensics

Contact: Kevin Roark, knroark@lanl.gov, (505) 665-0582 (03-136)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Sept. 24, 2003 -- Following the 2001 anthrax mail attacks it became clear to law enforcement and forensic scientists that high-quality procedures for the handling of bioagents used in alleged criminal activity were not standardized across the research labs that were asked to respond.

This standardization would ensure that if the best laboratories in the nation are again asked to respond they will do so with every confidence in their procedures. To resolve this issue a scientific working group was established by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and included Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists.

The initial report of the Scientific Working Group on Microbial Genetics and Forensics (SWGMGF) will be published in the Sept. 25 issue of Science magazine. The article, "Microbial Forensics: Establishing Foundations in an Evolving New Field to Respond to Bioterrorism," calls for a dedicated national system to analyze evidence from a bioterrorism act, biocrime or inadvertent microorganism/toxin release. "Law enforcement has had the traditional role and infrastructure for investigation of crimes and is now enhancing its capabilities to confront the new challenge of biological weapon usage and bioterrorism through partnership with the scientific community," according to the article. The first contribution of the SWGMGF is a set of guidelines for quality assurance (QA) to be used by labs conducting microbial forensics casework. The QA guidelines are published in the same issue of Science online.

The Los Alamos member of the SWGMGF sub-team that developed the QA guidelines is Babetta Marrone, of the Laboratory's Bioscience Division. Marrone leads the Department of Homeland Security's Bioforensics program at Los Alamos and has worked in biodefense research for several years. Following the 2001 attacks Los Alamos bioscientists were involved in DNA analysis to inform law enforcement about the anthrax used in the attacks. "It was a privilege to bring the Los Alamos experience to the working group," said Marrone. "Our involvement in the forensics response to the events of 2001 gave us invaluable insight into the challenges faced by research laboratories when called upon suddenly to do forensics analysis. The QA guidelines will be critical for preparing our future response."

According to the Science article, the scientific working group had to develop criteria for microbial forensics analyses so that the findings can be both scientifically sound and admissible in a court of law. The guidelines will provide a basis for establishing uniform quality benchmarks that can be used to evaluate laboratory performance, and assure the courts that the data provided by these analyses are reliable. The new quality assurance guidelines in bioforensics are based on the same standards used for human forensic DNA typing and other clinical laboratory standards.

"Laboratories and their scientists play an important role in countering bioterrorism," said Marrone. "By creating the tools used to identify the source of pathogens used in biocrime, and providing that data to law enforcement, investigators are one step closer to identifying the terrorists themselves."

The SWGMGF team included the FBI Laboratory, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the New York State Department of Health, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Children's National Medical Center of Washington, D.C.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos develops and applies science and technology to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent; reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism; and solve national problems in defense, energy, environment and infrastructure

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